Wives can be expected to tolerate only so much foolishness. And when Duane Rieder's wife pointed out that "you're spending $20,000 a year on grapes" and getting approximately zero return on that investment, Mr. Rieder decided that perhaps it was time to start selling the wine that he had been giving away to his friends and clients for the past decade or so.

It's hard to say when a hobby ceases to be that, but it seems clear that Mr. Rieder has now passed that threshold. The basement of his Penn Avenue firehouse -- the same former Lawrenceville firehouse that is home to Mr. Rieder's photo studio, and to his other labor of love, the Roberto Clemente Museum -- has been transfigured into a small winery, with a couple of stainless-steel fermenting tanks, dozens of wood barrels, and glass bottles of all sizes.

Mr. Rieder, if we're going to be perfectly honest about it, looks more like a master brewer than an enologist, what with his slight goatee and ubiquitous baseball cap. The same observation could be made of his wine-making partner, Tim Gaber, the one-time bassist for the Pittsburgh alt-rock band known as the Buzz Poets. (The two met when Mr. Rieder was shooting an album cover for the band.)

Beer? Yes, we could totally see them making beer.

But wine?

Seriously?

Is this stuff any good?

Turns out his friends had the same question. Mr. Rieder, a photographer, often gives the bottles away as promotional goodies, using his photos as wine labels in hopes of drumming up clients for his struggling business (his commercial photography shoots are down 75 percent over the past few years, he says, and he uses a former dark room to store bottles).

Friends and clients admired the bottles, but wouldn't sample the contents.

"You're supposed to drink it," Mr. Rieder would tell them.

But they were hesitant. You might be, too, if some dude asked you to try the wine he's been making in his cellar.

But Mr. Rieder and Mr. Gaber are serious about their product, and Mr. Rieder has been making wine for more than 15 years. At first, he was assisting a Bloomfield gentleman named Nino Tolomeo, whose specialty was a sweet Italian alicante-moscato blend, which got a bit monotonous after a few years.

Do you suppose, Mr. Rieder asked, we could maybe make a Cabernet at some point?

Soon enough, Mr. Rieder was on his own, and he has been making wine in the firehouse basement since 1999.

Penguins CEO Mario Lemieux has become a fan (Engine House No. 25 hopes to sell a "66 Cabernet," named after Le Magnifique) and Mr. Rieder and Mr. Gaber said a few restaurants have expressed interest in stocking the wine.

This year, Mr. Rieder received a limited winery license, which permits up to 200,000 gallons of wine. Unlike many Pennsylvania wineries, he won't be using any Pennsylvania grapes; his Engine House No. 25 Wines wouldn't have been legal even four years ago, because the state Liquor Control Board required limited wineries to produce their wines using Pennsylvania fruit.

But that requirement is gone, and local wines will be the better for it.

"You just can't get a dry grape here," he said. He trucks his grapes in from California, and also is developing a pipeline from South America. That way, he could make wine year-round. While North American grapes are harvested in the fall, in South America, grapes are being picked now.

Before Engine House vintages are available to the public, they need label approval -- not only does the PLCB have to license your operation, but the U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau also has to approve the language, art and font size displayed on each wine label.

Once that's settled, the wine will be for sale, starting at $35 for 750ml, available out of the firehouse basement (but not the state stores).

It's pricier than the average bottle, and that reflects the limited production -- about 20,000 gallons -- and the hand-applied labels and bottle wax.

Engine House No. 25 is the third winery in the county. La Casa Narcisi along Route 910 in West Deer has been selling wine for years, while Enrico Biscotti's Strip District garage winery, active as of last year, was the first limited-production winery to open within the city limits.

For more information on Engine House No. 25 Wines, 3339 Penn Ave., Lawrenceville, call 412-621-1268.